Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, October 9, 1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, October 9, 1969 theatre cinema - Oh those crazy summer days I Cruel By BETSY SMITH The Speech Department's pro- duction of Jean Genet's T h e Balcony, playing Wednesday through Sunday at Trueblood, succeeds prlimarily through echnique. The first five scenes are masterfully accomplished, he philosophy never weighing down the performance, the roles coalescing to each character's specific presentation, no char- acter less unbelievable than any otlwr In his direction, J a m e s Coaklay manages to bridge the gap between a character's image of himself and his place, or position, in the total action of the whorehouse. Yet each character must have his own identity, and it is in the second half of the play, when the spectator is moved from a sequential experience in e a c h room of illusion to the central focus, the office of the madam, that the production s h o w s some weaknesses. In The Balcony, an essential view fron tension must be kept between idea and representation, vision and nightmare. Occasionally the balance is tipped in the second half, and the Chief of- Police, or the woman-as-image, Chan- tal, are permitted merely to rant. Sharon Jansen, portray- ing Irma, the madame, gives a particularly strong performance, gaining in dimension as the play progresses, becoming, in her own words, "real." While the range of attitudes and movements the women were permitted to express was limit- ed to either ferocity or sadistic joy, they varied these skillfully enough, and were choreograph- ed gracefully enough, to stimu- late the scenes in which they are only intended to be present. Cassandra Medley i§ unforget- table as the Thief; the interplay between her and the Judge is rightly a focal point of the play, and a high point of it. In this scene, as in all of the first five, Coakley has paid particular at- 'The tention to the placement of the characters, the way they move toward and away from each other, at once mirroring and contradicting their roles and expectations of each other. The first half of the play literally whirls by through shock, juxtaposition and con- trast. Each whore is manipu- lated and manipulates in a closed world. These tableaux of religious infamy, parodies of faith and justice, live like per- fect drops preserved away from both the outside world as it ex- its (perhaps in a stage of seige, perhaps not )and the client's (or "visitor's") own life when they escape from the whore- house by way of the alley. The second half of the play flutters and drags, in touch with the real world, by way of film clips and breathless reports. This part of the play is cut somewhat in Coakley's produc- tion, but manages at its best Jalcony' moments to give a total view of th environment, as when the set opens up and one character completely subjugateshimself to another (the second memorable performance, by Evan Jeffries). The play is well-developed in terms of characters,and finds its best voice when the setting and the character magnify one another. When issues are merely magnified and do the film clips prejudice the issues?) they tend to fall flat. When the Genet play succeeds, it succeeds, as does Artaud's theatre of cruelty, at the ex- pense of the audience. At the end of the Speech Department's production, the audience has indeed been through the shift- ing sands of illusion. Whether or not they have been through a war-an ugly, shocking experi- ence-remains unclear. Perhaps what they are seeing is an un- easy peace. If so, then the real confrontations-and a real thea- tre of cruelty-are for another day. ETI N ...."}: r:{??.:?{iy?":{ {{r.:fiy{}"ti":?.',{4} .{ v } {?{{rxynv :}iX{;;: v} :}'i:{":":i}ii:^"}::"'?{Fti?}'{": "'"'ti": :d:'}'":?:?}:: .;: .;vw .: :-.'^$."::: :}w{$}} r.'r:{"}X""." r:"}.fi:7 }: }",, ", ." it"}$i:{{+ {:: }}, S^.' ";S;:P:^:v?$:v.s . "i"}: et":: :{ 7C%} ; }::"::v:{{{.:{v:v: $}:v: }: h".{?:vv : .vvr"::v. } iv: :it DAILY OFFICIAL BULL The Daily Official Bulletin is an official publication of the Univer-j sity of Michigan. Notices should be sent in TYPEWRITTEN f o r m toI Room 35?8 L.S.A. Bldg., before 2 p.m. of the preceding publi- cation and by 2 p.h. Friday for Sat urday and Sunday. Items appear once. Student organization notices are not acelpted for publication. For more information, phone 764- 91). NOT-ICES Bach Club Meeting, Thurs., Oct. 9, 8 p.m.; 1236 Washtenaw (at South Forestj bear S. U.). Speaker: Harold Haugh. "Bach as Preacher and Word Painter." Refreshments and FUN. Everyone wel- 'Ome (no musical knowledge needed For further info. call 665-6806. 663-2827, or 761-7356. Luncheon Meeting o: the American Culture Students Organization Oct. 8, 12:00 Noon at. Guild House, 802 Mon- roe. Open to everyone. Speaker from New Mobilization to speak on "Strike' Oct. 15: Where it is Going, and What We Can Do.'' Luncheon Meeting of the American! Culture Student Organization at the Guild Hue, 802 Monroe, at 12:00 noon, Oct. 8. Representative from New Mobilization to speak on "Strike Oct.- 15: Where It, Is Going, and What We Can Do". IM College Republicans General Meeting, Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Ughi- Multi-purpose room. American Institute of Industrial En- gineers (AIlE) Noon luncheon, Oct. 8, 1969 at 12:00 noon. 325 West Engineer- Ing, Speaker: Matthew McCauley-Asst.- Dean and Admissions Office of the University of Michigan Law School. * * V Graduate Outing Club meets Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Huron St. entrance to the Iackha n . . bfr hiking, canoe- ing, volley ball, occasional horseback riding Immediately followed by t h e Graduate Eating Club. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 I- - Day Calendar Piano Departnlent Student Recital: School of Music Recital Hall, 12:30 p m. Computer, Information and Control Engineering Seminar: Lenard Silver- man, Professor of Electrical Engineer- ing, Univ ersity of Souther California at .0.s Angeles, "Invertibility and De- coupling of Linear Systems": 1504' East Engineering, 4:00 p.m. Physical Chemistry Seminar: M r. Kent Lanini, Dept. of Chem., "Bands, Bonds, & Binding Energies - a Survey of Photoelectron Spectroscopy"; 12001 (JChem-. 4:00 p.m. Travel Film Series: "Eyeing the Brit- ish Isles": Auditorium A, Angell Hall, 7:30 p.m. University Players (Department of Speechl: The Balcony by Jean Genet: Trueblood Theatre. 8:00 p.m. General Notices The Political Science Departmental meeting scheduled for Friday, Oct. 10 at 8:00 in the Rackham Amphi Theatre has been rescheduled for Tues., Oct. 21 at 8:00 p.m., in the West Conference room in th Rackham. Pacement Service GENERAL DIVISION 3200 S.A.B. Announcements of Special Programs of study, travel and other opportunities for new graduates, inquire at Career Planning, 764-6388, for complete In- formation: Mademoiselle's College Competitions, College Board, Photography, and Fic- tion & Poetry. Deadline for receipt of first assignment stage is Nov. 1. tAdvertising Women of New York Inc. offers communications career confer- ence, in conjunction with Amer. Assoc. of Adv. Agencies, and Amer Adv. Fed- eration. Saturday, Nov 1, Hotel Com- modore, Lexington Ave, 42nd Street, NY, NY. 10017. Registration fee of $5.50 for students, who must arrange for their own transportation and hous- ing. Applications at aCreer Planning. Andover Teaching Fellowship Pro-I gram, Phillips Academy, Adnover, Mass, only men are eligible, training for ca-j reer in secondar yteaching, married Union Carbide Corp, Oak Ridge, and unmarried fellows receive stipend Tenn, Jrs, Srs, and grad students in and living allowances and quarters. biol, chem, math, engrg, phys, and Citizens Exchange Corps offers schol- stat for summer programs. Apply be- arships for study-exchanges with USSR.1 Trip Christmas 69 and other trips dur- ing year and summer 70. SUMMER PLACEMENT SERVICE 212 SAB, Lower Level Army and Air Force Exchange Serv- ice offers summer intern program in Dallas and elsewhere to soph, jrs, for mgmt dev courses, on-the-job trug, good salary. The American Association of University Women is sponsoring a book sale at the First Congrega- tional Church, on the corner of State and William. The books, priced from 10 cents to $1, include textbooks, novels, poetry, drama, biographies, for- eign language books, and paper- backs. There are also records, magazines, and prints as well as reference pieces and dictionaries at higher prices. Proceeds from the sale go to fi- nance graduate fellowships for women, both on the international and local level. The sale lasts from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Litter doesn't throw itself away; litter doesn't just happen. People cause it-and only people can prevent , it. "People" means you. Keep America Beautiful. ',odvertising contributed for the public good 1 NATIONAL'GENERAL CORPRAIO FOX EASTERN TEATRES~ FOX VIlLaGE 375 No. MAPLE PD. -769.1300 MON.-FRI.-7 :20-9:30 SAT. and SUN.--1 :00-3:05- 5:10-7:20-9:30 fore Jan 1. The Michigan Daily, edited and man- aged by students. t the University of Michigan. News phone: 764-0552. Second Class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich- Igan, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. Published daily Tues- day through Sunday morning Univer- sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by carrier. $10 by mail. Summer Session published Tuesday through Saturday morning. Subscrip- tion rates: $3.00 by carrier, $3.00 by mall. By NEAL GABLER As the celluoid world of tin- sel fades with the advent of the naturalistic film, so too dies the Hollywood studios' stereo- types of adolescents. Usually the filmic teenager fell into one of two types: One was the Walt Disney sort, kids who said, "Gee willikers," the boys with cow- licks and the girls all sugar and spice. The other was the Ameri- can International sort. These were beach people whose argot was, "Dig it, man," and whose idea of making out was twisting on the sand. Now we have Frank Perry's Last Summer. And for a 11 its faults, it just may be the first American commercial film whe-e the characters bear some resemblence to r e a live teen- agers. Eleanor Perry has written good dialogue, sprinkled w i t h erzatz psychology, but accurate- ly showing post-pubescent mind and emotion. Unlike the usual enunuchs and virgins Hollywood usually makes kids out to be, the Perry's ado- lescents are real-they are both aware of and aroused by sex. The whole film revolves around the confusion, excitement and brutality in the realization that there are more things to do with girls than bob for apples or go swimming. And it is these characters - as the Perry's create them and as they are performed - that are the movie. Barbara Hershey is beautiful and taunting as Sandy, a girl whose hormones have worked overtime. Just be- yond her grasp is Peter, defly portrayed by Richard Thomas, "It's the best picture about young people Ihave seen!" _J,.k.. AC V + 1 Eanuel LWolf presens AN ALLIED ARTISTS FILM A Frank PerryAlsd Production ws e Tonight at 7--9 P.. CAMPUS DIAL 8-6416 an innocent torn between lust for Sandy and affection for the plain Rhoda. Bruce Davison as Dan is so crude, insensitive and superficial he lo o k s as if he walked right out of a fraternity house. % And Catherine Burns as Rho- da -- smart, sinpere, romantic, a n d (tragically) a vulnerable new force to the .tight friend- ship of the other three - gives, what I think, is the best per- formance in the film and one of the best this year. She has an internal beauty, and Miss Burns handles perfectly Rhoda's nai- vite of the sexual games and the depth of her love for Peter. In- cidently, Miss Burns will be ap- pearing on campus this Novem- ber in the APA's The Conjueror. Yet the Perry's weakens the film by placing these characters in a heavy plot. Last Summer could have been a great picture of youth rather than a g o o d suspense story about young peo- ple. But instead, the highly structured plot overwhelms our main concern - the four lonely, searching teenagers. The first part of the movie succeeds in its fromlessness. Perry allows the unque chemis- try and attraction of the three characters, Peter, Dan and San- dy to slowly unfold irrespective of a conscious plot. F r o m a chance meeting while Sandy tended to a wounded gull, their intimacy grows - catalyzed by Sandy's sexuality. Their collec- tive awareness of this sexual ele- ment is revealed in a direct and effective manner in two espec- ially good scenes - one where Peter confesses a preoccupation with Sandy's breasts, and an- other where Sandy is simultan- eously petted by the boys dur- ing a sensual Italian movie. B u t this effective formless- ness is destroyed when the Per- ry's introduce Rhoda. And from this point on, we too are con- scious of "what's going to hap- pen next." Intruding into the norms of this cozy triangle Rhoda's pres- ence threatens to remove Peter. The other two begin to stop this threat, and when Sandy finally confronts Rhoda, the conclusion is brutal and anesthetizing. For all the horrow, Frank Per- ry directs in a simple, sometimes lyrical, style. Perry, best known for David and Lisa but also the director of the Truman Capote- Xerox specials, uses restraint. He has sensed that there is a chemistry among his actors, so he plants the camera and lets them perform. The combination of Perry's di- rection, the dialogue a n d the performances, make Last Sum- mer a significant film. , "WORTH CEL EBRATING"' "Mounts to a Marvelous Climax" LIVIDg in lin1er w is nof lr KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL advertising contributed for the public good MIKE'S STEAKS Formerly Steak 'n' Shake-1313 S. U. SPECIAL! Sat. and Sun. Only: Double Charbroiled Hamburger and large Coke FOR ONLY 99c --Detroit News --Michigan Dailv TONIGHT AT 8:00! SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 12 fmneflC~m citmieM ALICE'S RESTAURANT" THURSDAY and FRIDAY UGET SU dir KeniMiMzoquck ( 1953) -Apotten in an age of violence bewitched by Spirits. "YOU BETCHA" Directed by John Houseman plus "PLAY" by Samuel Beckett i /' ; ! r mo27kiwtd ti with Patrick Hines Christopher Walken i BLUES! BLUES! BLUES! BLUES! ANN ARBOR EXPO '69 FALL BLUES SHOW LUTHER ALLISON and BLUE NEBULAE REVUE "My Luck Don't Ever Change" BIG MOYO Slowdown Baby PLUS - BILLY LEWIS "Hard, Hard Time" Billy Lewis SAT., OCT. 18-9 P.M. to 1 A.M. ARMORY-223 E. Ann St. TICKETS ON SALE AT DISCOUNT RECORDS-$3.00 Ann Arbor-Gateway to the World of Blues 7 and 9 662-8871 Architecture Auditorium .i I N 0 I OCTOBER 24-26 'a P; : ' k TAMMY GRIMES BRIAN BEDFORD writers, poets,' artists, photographers NOEL COWARD'S I a I.